What If
by kohitsujichan
Summary: One story so far in a series of "what-if" scenario one shots.


**I do not own Skip Beat!**

He padded softly into the apartment, not out of consideration for her sleep schedule, nor because he was sneaking in. He would never sneak in. He didn't have to. He just didn't feel like having her flutter over him, fawn on him, and make a big deal of his being home. He would wake her up when he was hungry. For now, he dropped onto the couch, stretched, and settled down to sleep.

When he woke up, she was preparing breakfast. She did not yet have the frazzled appearance she often wore by the end of the day. Her hair was neatly in place in a ponytail, and she was wearing her uniform for her first job of the day.

She turned a gentle, loving smile on him and caressingly said his name.

"Shou-chan, your breakfast is ready. I have to go to work now, but I'll see you tonight. I'll be sure to bring you something nice."

He looked up at her through bleary eyes and said nothing. Still, she smiled and headed out the door.

He stretched, yawned, and slowly slinked his way over to where Kyouko had left his breakfast. His favorite, as usual. His favorite was honestly getting a little boring.

He couldn't complain though. Kyouko worked to provide him all his favorite things, a nice place to live, and he got to do whatever made him happy. If he came in during the wee hours of the morning, she might annoyingly admonish him to be careful of his health, but she never questioned what he had been doing. That wasn't her job anyway. She was his. She was meant to take care of him, and nothing else. That was how it had always been, and that was how it would stay, or so he thought.

* * *

Shou didn't pay much attention to the things Kyouko said. He wasn't around enough, or at least not when she was awake, to be on the receiving end of her information. He did have a vague recollection of some effusion of excitement from a while ago, but even when he thought really hard, the only specific memory he had was her saying something, something, "and so, Shou-chan, I'll be able to buy you whatever you want!" Maybe that had something to do with why she hadn't been around as much lately. She must have gotten another job to provide better for him. She wasn't neglecting him. He still had food on the table, so he wouldn't complain. Besides, it was nice not to have her worshiping gaze constantly leveled at him. He wasn't lonely.

The next surprise he got was when some strange woman came over to make his meals for him instead of Kyouko. He'd been asleep in the bedroom when he hear the key in the lock. He'd thought it was Kyouko coming back from one of her jobs, but when the door closed, he heard an unfamiliar voice mumbling, "Home cooked meals? Really, that girl _is_ eccentric."

Shou came out to stare at the woman.

She quickly prepared his meal, set it down, cleaned up, and began gathering her things to leave when she noticed him.

"What?" she asked. "Does she usually garnish it or something? Don't think anyone else would spoil you this much. That's either love or insanity."

Shou simply stared indignantly at the woman until she left.

This was repeated for a several days, but finally at the end of the week, Kyouko was back. Or at least, it sounded like her.

"Shou-chan! I missed you! Did you eat well? You look alright, I brought you back something tasty," Kyouko's voice said from this new girl's body. She even smelled different.

He frazzled ponytail was gone in favor of a layered red bob, her fast food uniform was nowhere to be scene, and she was wearing makeup. She looked pretty.

"Ah, I really missed you, Shou-chan!" she said again, wrapping her arms around him.

He stiffened and tried to pull away.

"Shou-chan, what's wrong?" she asked. "Are you mad that I was away for so long? I did tell you I was going. Don't be mad, ok, Shou-chan? Look, here's your present."

He didn't become any cuddlier, but when she brought out a particularly delectable dish, which apparently had been the specialty of the region she'd been visiting, though he did feel a little more apt to stick around.

While he ate, she rattled off the highly improbably tale of how she'd been recruited to join LME, after a run-in with the granddaughter of the company's president at the fast food restaurant where she'd been working.

The president of the entertainment company had been so impressed with her method of handling his granddaughter, that he'd asked Kyouko to join LME in a special capacity.

"He wanted _my_ help with _special_ projects," she said. "Can you believe it?"

She continued the tale of how she'd been asked to help out the singer Matsunai Ruriko on the set of her newest film. She gave a somewhat devious smile, then blushed.

"I got to try acting," she said. "And I loved it. I want to be as good as Tsuruga Ren."

Shou stopped eating and looked up at her, catching the dreamy look on her face. He had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

Kyouko began spending more and more time away from home, and when she did come home, she sometimes brought friends. She often brought a gruff, raven haired beauty, which Shou wouldn't have minded so much, except that when this girl was around, all of Kyouko's attention was on her.

While Kyouko made Shou nicer and nicer food, brought him nicer and nicer presents, her attention was beginning to wander, and that, he didn't like. Kyouko was his, always had been, and should have continued to be.

It became especially bad when _that_ man started picking her up and dropping her off all the time. It seemed that when Kyouko had assisted Ruriko on the set of Ring Doh, she had hit it off with the leading man, and now they were seeing a lot of each other.

Shou did not like the way Kyouko was spending so much of her time thinking about people who weren't him, and he let his displeasure be known. He started coming home less and less, did things like shred her nice new clothes, and left messes for her to clean up when she returned to the apartment.

He wanted to make her mad. If she was mad, she would think more about him. But instead of getting mad, she apologized.

"I'm sorry I haven't been spending as much time with you lately, Shou-chan. I know you're upset, but please forgive me. I've finally found something I really love, and I don't want to give it up."

He could see that she was trying. She still told him how wonderful he was, provided him with his favorite foods and never tried to stop him from doing what he wanted, still her schedule didn't let up, and she kept bringing people to their apartment. Even _him_.

"Um, I'm not sure he's here," he heard her say one day as she arrived home. She opened the door and peered in, then stepped aside to make room for her tall, handsome companion to follow her. "Well, anyway, please have a seat while I start dinner. And thank you again, Tsuruga-san, for agreeing to help me with this part."

"Not at all, Mogami-san. Thank you for making dinner. I'll look forward to not having to hear another lecture from Yashiro-san about proper nutrition." He then smiled warmly in her direction and added, "Besides, spending the evening in _your_ company is infinitely more appealing than eating a convenience store bentou alone in my apartment."

Kyouko blushed, turned away, and that was it.

Shou, who had been watching, unobserved from the darkened hallway, launched himself at the intruder and began his attack.

"Shou-chan!" Kyouko shrieked, trying to pull him off of Ren.

Ren stood, backing away from a very angry Shou.

"Shou-chan!" Kyouko scolded again, "I'm so sorry, Tsuruga-san, he's never done anything like this before. Are you alright?"

Shou was almost spitting with rage. Kyouko was taking the part of this pinhead actor over him.

"I'm fine, don't worry, Mogami-san," he said.

"Really, I can't imagine why he would do this all of a sudden," she said.

"Maybe he's jealous," Ren offered with a smirk. "And he is at that age…"

Shou hissed angrily at Ren.

"He has been acting up recently," Kyouko said, "but I thought it was because I haven't been able to spend as much time with him since I started acting."

"Don't blame yourself, Mogami-san," Ren said. "Sometimes cats can act up or become aggressive when they're in heat. Have you thought about getting him neutered?"

"Um, no, hadn't thought of that," she said, a thoughtful look coming over Kyouko's face.

That was when Shou realized that the spoiled behavior of even a cat had its limits.

**AN: Thanks for reading! This idea has been in my head for a while...like months, and I just haven't been able to write it. I realized how spoiled my own cat is and thought, "If Shou were a cat, Kyouko would probably forgive all his selfishness," and thus this story was born. The title comes from Skip Beat chapter 84. If you'd like to let me know what you think, feel free to leave a review. :) Also, head over to my profile if you have any interest in seeing a crappy companion drawing to my story, Rumors ;)  
**


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